Realistic Goals when Reducing Body Fat %

donovan86

I hit my 1 year mark of getting in shape on July 1st, but I still have so many questions.

I'm done losing weight. I fell into the Cardio only trap, didn't like how I looked, and started with heavy weight routines a few months ago. My new goal is ignore the scale and reduce body fat % using diet, weights and occasional cardio (because I like it). However, I'm not sure if I'm on track, or stalling right now. What is a reasonable pace to lose Body Fat %? I.E. Is expecting .10% a week realistic? So in 10 weeks I'll be down another 1%? I know it's a marathon and not a sprint, but I would love to know a basic pace to shoot for.

My basic info:

Male, 25, 5'11'', 155 lbs. Eating a very, very slight caloric deficit and trying my hardest to avoid the processed sugars/carbs and alcohol.

lizziem90

Bump I also want to know this

Acg67

I hit my 1 year mark of getting in shape on July 1st, but I still have so many questions.

I'm done losing weight. I fell into the Cardio only trap, didn't like how I looked, and started with heavy weight routines a few months ago. My new goal is ignore the scale and reduce body fat % using diet, weights and occasional cardio (because I like it). However, I'm not sure if I'm on track, or stalling right now. What is a reasonable pace to lose Body Fat %? I.E. Is expecting .10% a week realistic? So in 10 weeks I'll be down another 1%? I know it's a marathon and not a sprint, but I would love to know a basic pace to shoot for.

My basic info:

Male, 25, 5'11'', 155 lbs. Eating a very, very slight caloric deficit and trying my hardest to avoid the processed sugars/carbs and alcohol.

1-2% a month is reasonable, however @5'11 155, how much more do you expect to cut, sounds like you're pretty lean as is

waldo56

Yeah, at 5'11" 155 lb your results will be best by lifting weights and getting into a moderate calorie surplus. Chances are you will lose a little BF% as you gain weight.

Worry about cutting down to a low BF% once you actually have something to expose once you've cut down. Getting really lean at that low of a LBM will give you that concentration camp look.

cobaltis

I agree, if your ok with a marathon, set your calorie goal to a 300 SURPLUS! Lift HEAVY and OFTEN! Reduce cardio or cut it back if you want to maintain endurance. With this you will gain almost purely muscle and in 6 months to a year re-evaluate!

donovan86

1-2% a month is reasonable, however @5'11 155, how much more do you expect to cut, sounds like you're pretty lean as is

Weight is no longer an obstacle, in either direction. If gaining a few pounds or a few dozen would help me shed that midsection ridge of fat, I'm all for it.

I'm trying not to sound like the ridiculously clueless amateur that I am, but what I'm really looking for is that "in shape" look.

lauren3382

I'm trying to do the same...aiming for 15% body fat, currently at 18.3%. Interested to hear what others say.

I'm currently trying to bulk some, so no caloric deficit. I recently increased my cals b/c I wasn't getting enough to aid in growth of lean body mass. I'm currently lifting only (no cardio for another couple weeks) and then I'll start adding in cardio/HIIT and eventually end with 3 weeks of carb cycling. I'm trying to keep my macros at 40/40/20 until I carb cycle, when carbs will be 20% on low carb days and 50% on high carb days.

Acg67

1-2% a month is reasonable, however @5'11 155, how much more do you expect to cut, sounds like you're pretty lean as is

Weight is no longer an obstacle, in either direction. If gaining a few pounds or a few dozen would help me shed that midsection ridge of fat, I'm all for it.

I'm trying not to sound like the ridiculously clueless amateur that I am, but what I'm really looking for is that "in shape" look.

What's your bf%?

donovan86

I agree, if your ok with a marathon, set your calorie goal to a 300 SURPLUS! Lift HEAVY and OFTEN! Reduce cardio or cut it back if you want to maintain endurance. With this you will gain almost purely muscle and in 6 months to a year re-evaluate!

Awesome, thanks.

I've stumbled on the Stronglifts 5x5. Is this a good place to start lifting heavy or do you have another recommendation?

donovan86

What's your bf%?

I bought a caliper and did a test my girlfriend found online and we came out with a 13 or 14%.

Acg67

What's your bf%?

I bought a caliper and did a test my girlfriend found online and we came out with a 13 or 14%.

You really have 3 options and all have pros and cons

Continue to cut
Bulk
Recomp

lauren3382

What's your bf%?

I bought a caliper and did a test my girlfriend found online and we came out with a 13 or 14%.

You really have 3 options and all have pros and cons

Continue to cut
Bulk
Recomp

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but would you mind sharing the pros/cons of each option? I'm very interested in learning more!

donovan86

What's your bf%?

I bought a caliper and did a test my girlfriend found online and we came out with a 13 or 14%.

You really have 3 options and all have pros and cons

Continue to cut
Bulk
Recomp

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but would you mind sharing the pros/cons of each option? I'm very interested in learning more!

I'm interested too. More information is never a bad thing

waldo56

What's your bf%?

I bought a caliper and did a test my girlfriend found online and we came out with a 13 or 14%.

You really have 3 options and all have pros and cons

Continue to cut
Bulk
Recomp

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but would you mind sharing the pros/cons of each option? I'm very interested in learning more!

Where he is now (which is probably pretty similar to where you are for a female, except for LBM, which it looks like you have more of relatively speaking)

Continuing to cut - He's into the slow area where you have to cut at a small deficit and have to expect some muscle loss. The pro is that he's not terribly far from a lot of muscle definition coming in, every BF% from this point forward is pretty noticable. The con is that there isn't much to see anyway, losing more of it isn't really a good thing. At that BF% he should be slim in clothes, but still lacking a lot of muscle definition. The other con is that he is still dieting, which does kinda suck.

Bulk - He's in the high efficiency area for gaining. As long as he has a reasonable surplus most weight gained will be muscle. Muscle weight comes back a little more efficiently than building it in the first place as well. Plus from the sound of it he is a total beginner to strength training. This means that with a moderate surplus he can probably gain virtually pure muscle weight for several months, the net effect of this will be to lower his BF% as well, fat isn't being burned, instead muscle is being gained. The obvious pro of this is that you are anti-dieting, purposely trying to gain weight. If you are used to months and months of dieting, being in a surplus will feel downright awesome, you will feel like you have tons of energy. The con is that some fat will be gained. For him it is likely to be minimal for quite a while, but that isn't guaranteed. Though he wouldn't notice it since he still has noob gains in his pocket, being in a surplus is good for progress in the weight room, once you've been at it a while it is the only way to progress in the weight room.

Recomp - I'm assuming this means taking a calorie cycling approach and trying to lose fat and gain muscle in the same time period. This means the scale will ideally not move very much at all, but BF% declines. Th pro of this is that you are maintaining a weight you are happy with (or slowly gaining/losing) and putting on muscle mass with no fat gain. The cons are that it is a fairly tedious process, taking calorie counting to a whole nother level, and it isn't a terribly efficient process. Combining gaining muscle with losing fat make the process less efficient than doing one than the other. You will almost surely make more progress bulking 12 weeks and cutting 12 weeks than you will using a calorie cycling approach for 24 weeks. But you do combine the pros of bulking/cutting without the cons of each. You just have to accept slow progress, fast progress on either the gaining muscle or losing fat front is generally sign that your daily calorie goals are too high or low.

Libby81

bump

Acg67

What's your bf%?

I bought a caliper and did a test my girlfriend found online and we came out with a 13 or 14%.

You really have 3 options and all have pros and cons

Continue to cut
Bulk
Recomp

Hope I'm not hijacking the thread, but would you mind sharing the pros/cons of each option? I'm very interested in learning more!

Where he is now (which is probably pretty similar to where you are for a female, except for LBM, which it looks like you have more of relatively speaking)

Continuing to cut - He's into the slow area where you have to cut at a small deficit and have to expect some muscle loss. The pro is that he's not terribly far from a lot of muscle definition coming in, every BF% from this point forward is pretty noticable. The con is that there isn't much to see anyway, losing more of it isn't really a good thing. At that BF% he should be slim in clothes, but still lacking a lot of muscle definition. The other con is that he is still dieting, which does kinda suck.

Bulk - He's in the high efficiency area for gaining. As long as he has a reasonable surplus most weight gained will be muscle. Muscle weight comes back a little more efficiently than building it in the first place as well. Plus from the sound of it he is a total beginner to strength training. This means that with a moderate surplus he can probably gain virtually pure muscle weight for several months, the net effect of this will be to lower his BF% as well, fat isn't being burned, instead muscle is being gained. The obvious pro of this is that you are anti-dieting, purposely trying to gain weight. If you are used to months and months of dieting, being in a surplus will feel downright awesome, you will feel like you have tons of energy. The con is that some fat will be gained. For him it is likely to be minimal for quite a while, but that isn't guaranteed. Though he wouldn't notice it since he still has noob gains in his pocket, being in a surplus is good for progress in the weight room, once you've been at it a while it is the only way to progress in the weight room.

Recomp - I'm assuming this means taking a calorie cycling approach and trying to lose fat and gain muscle in the same time period. This means the scale will ideally not move very much at all, but BF% declines. Th pro of this is that you are maintaining a weight you are happy with (or slowly gaining/losing) and putting on muscle mass with no fat gain. The cons are that it is a fairly tedious process, taking calorie counting to a whole nother level, and it isn't a terribly efficient process. Combining gaining muscle with losing fat make the process less efficient than doing one than the other. You will almost surely make more progress bulking 12 weeks and cutting 12 weeks than you will using a calorie cycling approach for 24 weeks. But you do combine the pros of bulking/cutting without the cons of each. You just have to accept slow progress, fast progress on either the gaining muscle or losing fat front is generally sign that your daily calorie goals are too high or low.

Yup, perfectly said. and also another con for trying to recomp is that there is a good chance of just wheel spinning if you're not on point with everything.

lauren3382

Thanks! I appreciate the insight!

Faithfulltina

I'm literally years late on this but I saw you said 1-2% a month is realistic. I'm 5 feet, 32.5% (down from 34% in February) and I do cardio 30 minutes 6 days a week with strength training in between as well. I eat at a rather large deficit, about 1000 once I've worked out. I just started seeing the scale move again today. Is there anything else you can think I should do that would help? I want my BF% at about 19% (I think, guess I will see once I'm there) and to weigh 130 lbs, I'm 148 now. Is that all realistic, how long do you think that would take? I've given myself 22 more months to get where I want to be.

THANKS!!

Faithfulltina

I'm literally years late on this but I saw you said 1-2% a month is realistic. I'm 5 feet, 32.5% (down from 34% in February) and I do cardio 30 minutes 6 days a week with strength training in between as well. I eat at a rather large deficit, about 1000 once I've worked out. I just started seeing the scale move again today. Is there anything else you can think I should do that would help? I want my BF% at about 19% (I think, guess I will see once I'm there) and to weigh 130 lbs, I'm 148 now. Is that all realistic, how long do you think that would take? I've given myself 22 more months to get where I want to be.

THANKS!!

By in between I mean I do 15 minutes cardio, then I lift, then 12-15 minutes of another type of cardio.